


Hallucinations

by Welcome_to_Latveria



Series: DoomReed Week 2020 [5]
Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: (i guess??), Angst, DoomReedWeek2020, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:35:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27122608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welcome_to_Latveria/pseuds/Welcome_to_Latveria
Summary: Reed finds Victor in the ruins of Castle Doom after the man's disastrous encounter with the Hood.
Relationships: Reed Richards/Victor von Doom
Series: DoomReed Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973932
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24
Collections: DoomReed Week 2020





	Hallucinations

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Doomreed Week 2020 on Tumblr/Twitter.
> 
> Day 6 - Hurt/Comfort
> 
> Thinking about the trauma of Victor having his face burnt again... fuck Bendis for making that happen :/

When Reed had returned to Earth with his family several days ago he had to restrain himself from asking after Victor straight away. He had wanted to check his hypothesis – wanted to see if his sacrifice had paid off and that his old friend had indeed turned to heroics in his absence as he had hoped.

It turns out he never had to wait to ask – he ends up seeing the man on the news. He has to hold back his proud grin when he sees Victor – as Iron Man, apparently – fighting a group of villains and coming to the aid of Tony Stark.

And then that grin slips. Because he sees the Hood go after Victor with a vengeance he doesn’t fully understand, and he sees Victor throw himself at the villain to protect Tony and he sees the Hood reach forward and burn his friend’s _face_.

It’s the way Victor doesn’t even scream even though Reed – half-way across the world and safe in his home – _does._ It’s the way Victor immediately disappears into thin air, the way he wants to escape and not be seen.

Reed knows, then, that he has to find him. He did _not_ sacrifice so much to give Victor a second chance only for some third-rate villain to snatch it from his grasp just as his labours are about to bare fruit. He didn’t – _Victor_ didn’t – work so hard just to have it thrown back in his face like this.

Victor will want to be alone; he knows this. Victor will want to mourn in solitude; he knows this too. He knows every single possible reaction and argument that his friend will throw at him in order to be left alone. But he won’t let it happen. He won’t.

Victor Von Doom is not about to slide back into villainy so easily on his watch, he swears it.

* * *

Reed thought he had been prepared for everything. But _this_ … he wasn’t prepared for this at all.

He has never seen Victor look so… so _broken_ and he almost flinches at how viscerally disturbing it is. Victor has always been so strong, so full of bravado and false confidence that only _he_ knew was false. Only very rarely has he seen cracks in his mask, in his façade. But now? Now the mask is gone and there is no Doom, only Victor.

His old friend is collapsed and sprawled out across the broken tiles of his throne room. Reed has no idea what has happened to Castle Doom in his time away but now the once magnificent castle is in ruins. The image only serves to increase his anger; this was Victor’s _home_ – as much as anywhere could be his home – and someone has destroyed it.

“Victor,” he calls out cautiously, anticipating the man’s harsh response or even a violent one.

He is greeted with silence.

The concern that is already at the surface of his mind starts to spill over and he quickly makes his way over to Victor’s broken form.

For a terrifying, heart stopping moment he thinks Victor is dead.

Then the man lets out a pained noise and he collapses to his knees next to him in relief. He wants to reach out and touch him – to reassure him that he is not alone. But the second he contemplates it he realises he doesn’t know where to touch, because he looks in so much pain that he is scared of hurting him further.

“Richards?”

He stills, again anticipating Victor to lash out. Instead, he does something even more concerning – he _laughs_. “I see I am hallucinating again,” Victor murmurs and Reed leans closer to get a better look at him and sees that the man’s eyes are unfocused.

Concerned, he reaches forward and starts to unlatch some of the man’s armour. Underneath, Victor is wearing a sort of bodysuit – the type worn by most superheroes. He lays a hand on Victor’s neck, where the skin is exposed, and feels the man is hot to the touch. “Victor,” he says, loud and clearly, “I think you may have a fever.”

The man hums, unconcerned, “my wounds are likely infected.”

Reed’s eyes widen. “Then I need to treat them,” he says to Victor, already looking around thinking for the best place to look for supplies in the ruined castle. “Where would you have kept medical supplies?” he asks Victor but then realises, “Oh, I suppose you relied on sorcery for healing.”

_Perhaps I should call Doctor Strange,_ he thinks, _or should I just take him back home? Maybe–_

“Why are you speaking?” Victor murmurs. “They never spoke before…”

“They?” he repeats, concerned. “Victor what do you mean?”

“The hallucinations,” he replies, looking at a spot just past Reed. “They never spoke to me before.” Victor seems to be talking more to himself than to Reed. “Perhaps these are shades…”

“You have hallucinated before?” he asks, because seeing things that aren’t there may be typical of a fever – which the man is suffering from now – but outside of a medical condition? Well, needless to say it is concerning.

Victor hums. “Sometimes,” he replies, distantly, “sometimes I see Valeria. My goddaughter. She… she has passed from this world now.”

The mention of his daughter overwhelms him with shame. He never considered how Victor would feel, thinking his beloved goddaughter was dead.

Not knowing what to say, he can only reply, “Valeria is not dead, Victor.” He pauses and then asks, “have you hallucinated anything else before?”

“My son,” Victor replies slowly, like he is hearing everything Reed says on a delay. “My Kristoff. I see him as a small child – when he still loved me.”

“Kristoff?” he echoes, confused. He had not stopped to consider where the teenager might be. “Where is he, Victor? Is he okay?”

Victor laughs. It’s a bitter sound that gets caught in his chest and turns into a cough. When he’s able to breathe again, he says, “He’s in America. I have finally succeeded in pushing him away.”

Reed frowns. “Should I fetch him for you?” No matter how Victor sees the situation – and he has no doubt that the man’s view is skewed – Kristoff would never let his father push him away so easily. The teenager is loyal to a fault – and Victor has many faults. He’s a good son and he understands his father a great deal; he would understand the significance of his father’s state right now and be able to treat him accordingly.

“No. Leave him be.” Victor says sternly. “He is better off without me.”

He doesn’t particularly think that is true, but he knows there will be no convincing Victor – especially when the man is barely lucid.

He’s about to turn to Victor and ask him something else when the man moves suddenly, just out of Reed’s reach. “I banish you, shade!” he snaps, and he even manages to send some sort of sorcery at him, but it fizzles out and dissipates when it hits Reed – no doubt because he is not, in fact, a shade.

“I’m not a ghost, Victor,” he says, sighing and moving closer to the man again.

“Then you are some sort of demon taking Richards’ form – I have already seen Mephisto do something similar so believe me when I tell you that you are wasting your time!”

He sighs again, deeply – perhaps it would have been better if he’d just pretended he was a ghost. “I’m not a demon, either.”

Victor closes his eyes. “I do not care _what_ you are – I merely wish you would leave me to suffer in peace.”

“I would _never_ leave you to suffer, Victor.”

Victor laughs. “Doom always suffers alone – it is my lot in life.”

Slightly frustrated with the man, he says, “Because you _make_ it your lot – you are alone by choice, Victor! How many times have I offered a hand out to you only for you to spurn me?”

“You do not understand!” Victor snaps at him. “You never understood! I am… I am trapped in this hole I dug for myself and I cannot claw my way out no matter how hard I try. Every time I reach the light I am thrown back down into the darkness!” Incensed, the man gestures to his own face, “Just look at me! Do you not see what happens when I try to escape my place in this world?”

“Victor–”

Before Reed can reply, the man slumps forward slightly. He looks up at Reed and he is struck by how _desperate_ his old friend looks. “I cannot go back,” he murmurs fervently, “I do not… I do not wish to go back to being alone again – I cannot – I… I do not think I could do it.”

He reaches out and holds Victor’s arm, tightly, and says to him, “I won’t let that happen to you, Victor.”

_I promise._


End file.
